A Cold and Wet Welcome
Boy, it’s bloody cold and wet. When we left Cape Town last week, I’m thinking is this the Southern Ocean and all it’s got to give. Whoops, got that wrong. The dry suit certainly helps by keeping the wet out, but you do sweat a bit, so stuff does get a bit damp. My Musto HPX (very expensive) boots have been bloody useless. Soaking wet at the slightest bit of ocean wave and after just 11 weeks at sea, they have developed a small hole on the toe of my right boot. Just as well I’m wearing a dry suit, it just makes the boots cold and so my feet get cold. The boat is full of condensation and every breath gives big clouds of vapour. I can only imagine how much moisture gets into the air when we’re cooking. But to be fair, we all knew this would be the case, so your kit should reflect the conditions. I’m now putting my gloves and other external wet kit, hats etc into my sleeping bag. Over time, they would dry out, but if I’m not getting them dry, it just gets them warm for the next watch.
What you don’t realise is the height of the waves, anything between the height of a bungalow to semi-detached house. They are so big, they’re breaking over the boat from every angle, and this is something we’ve not experienced before. You can’t stop it, you’ve just got to be prepared, so hoods on before going on deck. I don’t know why, but it’s always funny watching fellow crew mates’ discomfort being dumped on by a big wave. Only yesterday, Gavin, the skipper, was in the sail locker with the hatch open helping to put a sail up on deck when a huge wave washed over the fore deck, down the open hatch and dumped on top of him. The laughter from the sail locker rang out and continued as Gavin walked into the galley like a drowned rat. If you didn’t laugh, you’d probably cry. Today, whilst on the helm in 40 + knots of wind, a wave broke on our port quarter and a swimming pool worth of water took to the air and dumped into the cockpit, right onto the unsuspecting Anders. He disappeared from view for a split second, then we heard him coming up for air, spluttering and a bit damp, we couldn’t stop laughing.
Breaking New Records
It looks like Gosh have taken the scoring gate again. They are good, but will it help or hinder their next move? We’ve moved through the field into a strong 3rd spot but working hard in the new low pressure that’s arrived. The wind direction is not that favourable for the fleet making us gybe our way to Australia, which isn’t great. We’ve got two reefs in the main with the staysail down and flying our Yankee 3 and surfing down the big South Atlantic waves at a not too shabby 25 knots. It’s not for the faint-hearted but great fun. That’s why you sail down here, the adrenaline rush makes the cold and wet disappear, well, until you get back into your bunk.
We’re still seeing lots of seabirds around the boat, which makes me think it’s a learned response, probably from fishing boats, as we’re not seeing birds flying anywhere else but just behind the boat. I’m surprised they’ve not understood that there aren’t any fish coming off this vessel! Seeing lots of Albatross, but not sure what species they are, but the mature adults are a hell of a sight. But everybody is a bit disappointed that we’ve not seen much other wildlife, like Whales & Dolphins. I’m sure time will even things out.
The gauntlet has just been thrown down with Oli hitting 29.5 knots, the new LBS world record holder for white sail speed. That’s why he was so happy at breakfast this morning. With a hard sail last night and this morning, it looks like we’re still in 3rd spot, but it’s all a bit of a close-run thing, and we’re not even halfway yet. With a new low-pressure building again, we should find some interesting speeds. Just a shame both the direction and sea state makes it nearly impossible to fly a kite. It’s a tad bumpy, and trying really hard not to flog our Yankee and plot a course to Fremantle is proving a difficult task.
Life Below Deck
David and Dom are on mother duty today and looking to set the bar high with some bread experimentation. It all smells fantastic, just shows the difference a week at sea makes, with everyone past the sea sickness stage and starting to eat real food.
Well after a cracking night of ocean sailing with gusts up to 55 knots and massive waves of 10m, breakfast is served just after completing a gybe in 40 knots. The bread is fantastic, great job David, and I believe there’s more to come, including potato bread. Certainly got my vote.
It’s now my turn to generate a crew laugh. Going through a gybe we have 2 foreguys that are attached from the rear of the boom up to the bowsprit and back down to the cockpit. Some people call them “preventers”. They are there to reduce the chance of the boom accidentally gybing, a “broach”. Every time we gybe we need to break the lines and run them up the other side of the boat. There are three foreguys, Port, Starboard and Central. The central foreguy is normally the last one to be made up. I’m bringing the central foreguy down the port side, I’m setting on the deck outside the cockpit midships, when a massive wave, lifts me up and carriers me down the deck, I’m just a passenger! I’m clipped on and still holding onto the central foreguy and manage to jam my foot into the Yankee car, which brings me to a halt and the cockpit crew rolling about in laughter. Apparently, my face was a picture. Needless to say, the central foreguy is made up, and we carry on racing.
Halfway through the race and a strong 3rd with GOSH 40 out in front, Washington DC approx 20 miles in front and Punta about 20 miles behind. Frustratingly, the wind has dramatically dropped and had a couple of gibes with the wind both backing & veering. I suspect Gavin is contemplating sticking a kite up after breakfast.
With it being so cold, both watches have been rotating every half hour with three on deck, this means that most of us are on deck for an hour and below deck for an hour. Unfortunately, this has brought a thought process that because you finished on deck on the previous watch, you won’t be 1st on deck the next watch, so only half the watch is dressed on time to go on deck. We’ve noticed it on our watch. I’ve been guilty of it and trying to nip it in the bud, as we are supposed to be racing and everybody needs to be ready, with life jackets on to go on deck together at your allotted watch change over.
Up this morning, the wind is a little tame but starting to build again. A very busy watch, 1st on the foredeck, pulling the Yankee 2 up, dropping the Yankee 1, pulling it back, hanking the Yankee 2 on and then raising it. Pause for a breath, flake the Yankee 1 in its sail bag, drag the Yankee 1 in its bag down the boat and into the sail locker, back in the cockpit for a rest, wind still getting stronger and Maisie struggling to keep the boat upright, so drop the foresail. Still struggling to keep us upright, put a reef into the main. Everything now under control. I’m now down below to finish emptying the bilges. It should be done every watch. Then a bite to eat, then bed. I’m absolutely jiggered. I’ve still got all my wet weather gear on, complete with life jacket and thinking, I’ll just get in bed with this lot on. Managed to find the energy to get undressed and get into my damp bunk, and after 20 mins or so I’m getting warm again.
Happy Independence Day to all my American teammates and family. Joel and Leo have been busy ‘mothers’ cooking up a storm for our dinner. Chicken, stuffing and mashed sweet potatoes with “marshmallow”. Seemingly, it’s a thing, probably from TikTok, as none of the Americans on board have ever heard of it before, let alone eaten it. Certainly different. Then, followed by both sweet & salted popcorn. Well done ‘mothers’.
So, the race has got to an interesting turning point. The fleet has split. Half have gone north, the rest, including LBS, have gone south-east, both to miss a wind hole. We’ve certainly had the early upper hand with gains on everybody pushing up to 2nd. But like all things in ocean racing, nothing is that straightforward. We will certainly hit the wind hole, it’s just a timing thing. Who’s got it right, and who’s got it wrong? Could be a race decider. We’ve finally gone to our Code 1 Spinnaker. The opposite watch got the call at 06.00 this morning, a successful hoist and later a jibe. This is a race 1st for our leggers and they did a brilliant job.
Another busy day as I’m Mother today with Anna. A great job again, if I don’t say so myself. Porridge for breakfast, spicy tomato soup, with garlic croutons and fresh bread for lunch, finished off with a chicken curry with boiled rice for dinner. Anna has finished off the bread making, leaving it to prove in the oven overnight, for the next mothers to bake for breakfast in the morning. I’ve been up since 2 am, and it’s now 8 pm, and I’m knackered. I’m sitting in the galley on my own, with everything cleaned down, hot water prepared for the evening watch to make drinks, my watch is in bed, the other watch is on deck, the kite is up, and the boom is creaking. You can hear the trickle of water on the outside of the hull and the voices of the other watch chatting about various topics, as LBS sails through a fairly flat Southern Ocean at a steady 7 knots! It takes away the rigours of the past 10 days. Better not get used to it as the wind hole will have gone in a few days and with that will come the cold & wet. So, time for bed for a 6.00 am watch. During the night, a squall came through, and the Spinnaker had to be dropped. The guys did such a great job that I didn’t even wake up.
What a great day, sun is out, and stuff is drying out. A good morning sailing followed by a code 1 spinnaker hoist before heading off to bed. Still holding 2nd spot, with those GOSH boys extending their lead.
One of the best bits of this race has been the people I have met, watching them grow in confidence and enjoy the experience. Even more so for the leggers as they join a team of people who’ve already made bonds over the 1000’s of miles and experiences they’ve shared together. Today, Leo, a young man of few words, came out of his shell. It might have been too much sugar or not enough water, but he’s changed. He decided to produce a video on the boat, and it was brilliant. I certainly saw a completely different side to him, hopefully we’ll see the video go viral.
Positive Spirits on the way to Fremantle
Sailing on white sails (no spinnaker) and making great headway. Speeds regularly upon the high teens. We’ve got a squall coming in. Leo is on the helm and is struggling to hold her. Water is filling the cockpit as we heel way over. We drop the boom down the traveller, but still can’t make headway. We’ve then eased the main to dump more wind but are still struggling. Gavin is up on deck to way-up the next step. “Drop the Yankee” says Gavin, so David, Leo and I head up on the foredeck with sail ties and drop the Yankee 1. Water is flying everywhere. The Yankee is being difficult as we all grab at sail cloth to pull it down. Eventually, it’s dropped, and we secure it to the deck and continue sailing under the stay sail. We noticed some significant sail damage to the Yankee 1. It will need to be repaired tomorrow.
We wake up and the on-watch have dragged back the Yankee 1 and put the Yankee 2 up so our watch can repair the Yankee 1. 1st job was to get it on deck. Andy got drenched whilst helping down below, as a large wave came over the deck down the hatch on top of Andy, and yes, we all laughed. We brought the sail back to the cockpit and Petra, with the help of Tony G, started to flake the sail and repair the damage. They found a total of 9 holes, the smallest being about 20mm and the largest 150mm. The white sails like the Yankee 1 are patched with much thicker material and are drilled and then handstitched, so takes some time, in fact, our full watch of 6 hours. As 2 people in the watch are tied up on the sail repair, David has a sore wrist, it leaves just Leo and I to helm the boat. So, we do an hour on, hour off. The helming is fun, but in heavy seas, it’s a hell of a work-out and glad to have finished my watch, get some dinner then off to sleep.
The oncoming watch has already eaten and come on deck to relieve us. As it’s such a nice evening, we eat on deck, pasta with pesto sauce, followed by pop corn and as it’s Sunday Sundown, a cold can of pop, Fanta for me. Gavin gives us a run-down of where we are and strategy for the next few days. It’s been a steady week, consolidating our position in 2nd and heading for the speed gate. The crew & boat are all in good nick and the sails, with their repairs, are ready for another week of hard ocean racing.